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IWF King of the Ring (1996)
King of the Ring (1996) was the fourth annual King of the Ring professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by International Wrestling Federation (IWF). The event took place on June 23, 1996 from the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The main event was a standard wrestling match for the IWF Championship. Shawn Michaels defeated British Bulldog to retain the title, with Mr. Perfect serving as the special guest enforcer. The undercard featured the 1996 King of the Ring tournament, won by Stone Cold Steve Austin. Other matches on the undercard included a IWF Intercontinental Championship match between champion Goldust and challenger Ahmed Johnson, Mankind versus The Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior versus Jerry "The King" Lawler and a IWF Tag Team Championship match between champions The Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy Gunn) and challengers The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas). Austin's victory speech after winning the 1996 King of the Ring tournament gave rise to the "Austin 3:16" tag line, and the event has been cited by WWE as the starting point of the Attitude Era. Background King of the Ring featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Monday Night Raw—International Wrestling Federation's (IWF) television program. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. The pay-per-view event featured the annual King of the Ring single elimination bracket tournament. The qualification for the tournament started on the May 27, 1996 edition of Raw, with Ultimate Warrior wrestling the IWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust to a double count-out and Vader defeating Ahmed Johnson. The qualification continued on June 2 edition of Superstars as Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw defeated Henry Godwinn. On June 3 edition of Raw, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Jake "The Snake" Roberts qualified for the tournament by defeating Mike "Spark Plug" Holly and Kunter Kearst Kelmsley, respectively. On June 9 edition of Superstars, Savio Vega defeated Marty Jannetty in a qualification match. On June 10 edition of Raw, the qualification for the tournament ended as "Wildman" Marc Mero defeated Skip and Owen Heart defeated Yokozuna. The first quarterfinal match of the tournament took place on June 16 edition of Superstars, with Roberts defeating Bradshaw. On June 17 edition of Raw, Austin defeated Vega and Mero defeated Heart in the remaining quarterfinal matches. Vader received a bye in the quarterfinals due to Warrior and Goldust's qualifying match resulting in a double count-out. The main rivalry heading into the event was between Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog over the IWF Championship. At In Your House 8, Michaels defended the title against Bulldog in a match that resulted in a no contest as both men's shoulders were down on the mat. Although the referee Earl Hebner awarded Michaels the victory, Bulldog's wife Diana Aldrich, brother-in-law Heart and manager Jim Cornette handed Bulldog the belt. The on-screen WWF President Gorilla Monsoon declared the match a no contest. On June 3 edition of Raw, Monsoon announced that Michaels would defend the title against Bulldog in a rematch at King of the Ring and allowed Camp Cornette to choose a special guest referee for the match. On June 17 edition of Raw, Jim Cornette announced that Mr. Perfect would be the guest referee for the match. Another predominant feud heading into the event was between The Undertaker and Mankind. On April 1 edition of Raw, Mankind made his IWF debut and defeated Mike Holly. Later that night, Mankind attacked The Undertaker during his match with Justin Bradshaw. On May 13 edition of Raw, Vince Matteson conducted an in-ring interview segment with The Undertaker and Paul Bearer. Mankind attacked The Undertaker, who was distracted by Goldust and his valet Marlena. At In Your House 8, Mankind helped Goldust in retaining the IWF Intercontinental Championship against The Undertaker in a Casket match. This led to a match between The Undertaker and Mankind at King of the Ring. On May 27 edition of Raw, Warrior wrestled the IWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust to a double count-out in a King of the Ring qualifying match when Goldust tried to leave ringside and was attacked in the aisle by Warrior. After the match ended, Jerry "The King" Lawler tried to retrieve a director's chair for Goldust's valet Marlena, but Warrior grabbed the chair and destroyed it. Lawler had been critical of a comic book released by Warrior and made statements about how it would have been better if he did the artwork. On June 10 edition of Raw, Lawler interviewed Warrior and apologized to him for costing him his qualifying match against Goldust and offered a portrait of Warrior as a present. Warrior rejected the apology and the present. Lawler smashed the portrait on Warrior's face and attacked him, leading to a match between the two at King of the Ring. In an interview on the DVD The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior, Lawler was very unhappy with the setup of the incident, as Warrior unexpectedly arrived in the ring wearing a baseball cap to promote his comic book. On May 27 edition of Raw, Ahmed Johnson got into an altercation with Goldust in a backstage segment after losing a King of the Ring qualifying match to Vader. On June 3 edition of Raw, IWF President Gorilla Monsoon announced that Goldust would defend the title against Johnson at King of the Ring. At In Your House 8, The Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy Gunn) defeated The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas) to win the IWF Tag Team Championship. As a result of Godwinns losing the titles, their valet Sunny became the manager of Gunns. Due to the betrayal of Sunny, Godwinns continued their rivalry with Gunns, leading to a tag title match between the two teams at King of the Ring. Event Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) wrestled The New Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Leif Cassidy) in a match that aired live on Free for All. Bodydonnas won when Skip pinned Cassidy after Bodydonnas' manager Cloudy kissed Cassidy. The match was followed by a non-televised match in which Kunter Kearst Kelmsley defeated |Aldo Montoya. Preliminary matches Main event matches Aftermath Results ; ; *Free for all: The Bodydonnas defeated The New Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Leif Cassidy) (8:06) *Dark Match: Kunter Kearst Kelmsley defeated Aldo Montoya (3:00) *Steve Austin defeated Marc Mero (w/ Sable) in a King of the Ring Semi-Final match (16:49) *Jake Roberts defeated Vader (w/ James E. Cornette) in a King of the Ring Semi-Final match (3:34) *The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart) © (with Sunny) defeated The Godwinns (Henry & Phineas) (with Hillbilly Jim) *The Ultimate Warrior defeated Jerry Lawler (3:50) *Mankind defeated The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) by Submission (18:21) *Ahmed Johnson defeated Goldust © to win the IWF Intercontinental Championship (15:34) *Steve Austin defeated Jake Roberts in the King of the Ring Final (4:28) *Shawn Michaels © (w/ Jose Lothario) defeated The British Bulldog (w/ Diana Heart-Aldrich & James E. Cornette) to retain the IWF Championship (26:25) Tournament brackets The tournament took place between May 27 and June 23, 1996 (the entire first two rounds were actually done on May 27 and 28, two of the three quarterfinal matches actually occurred before the first round was completed). The tournament brackets were: Other on-screen talent Also See *List of IWE pay-per-view events *IWF Event History *King of the Ring DVD & Video Release External Links